Social Media Privacy Policy

Effective: May 8, 2009

Last Updated: November 2, 2009

The Symantec Privacy Policy describes how Symantec handles personal information collected prior to as well as during the use of Symantec's products and services by its customers, including information provided via the use Symantec’s web sites and online services.

The following supplemental social media policy also describes our additional privacy practices that are specific to Symantec’s social and business networking sites and communities, online marketplaces, social bookmarking, social messaging, wikis, blogging and generally, wherever there is user-generated content (“Symantec social media sites”). In the event of any conflict, the Symantec Privacy Policy shall govern.

Personal Information

When you create an account with Symantec we may ask for some personal information, including your email address and a password, which is used to protect your account from unauthorized access.

As a member of one of Symantec’s social media sites, you are given the opportunity to create a profile which may include personal information, such as your gender, age, occupation, place of work, and technical or other skills, plus other content. If you provide personal information in such a profile, it may be accessed and viewed by other members of the Symantec social media sites.

When you communicate into forums or send messages through Symantec’s social media sites, or on forum services provided by third parties to Symantec, we may collect and maintain information associated with those messages, including email addresses and content.

Uses and Information Sharing

Other members of the Symantec social media sites you have joined are able to interact with you. As such, you and they will be able to share any opinions, thoughts and other information you contribute on such sites with other members. This sharing is one of the benefits of Symantec social media sites; it is important therefore to recognize that as with most online communications, these communications should be courteous, professional, and should not expose your personal information unnecessarily.

Symantec social media sites are provided for the purpose of promoting discussion and fostering knowledge about Symantec’s technologies. It is not intended for users to share personal information, search for jobs, make personal connections or develop personal relationships in the manner that social networking sites are intended. Users of Symantec social media sites are discouraged from providing unnecessary personal information, about themselves or others, and where such is considered a violation of the Terms of Use of the site, may result in termination of a user’s account.

In addition to the foregoing:

Symantec may process your personal information and the content of your communications in order to create your account, give you access to that account, and enable you to use the Symantec social software sites’ services, in addition to such uses as described in the Symantec Web Privacy Notice, and the Terms of Use associated with the specific Symantec social software sites.

When you send messages through Symantec’s social media sites’ forums, your name and email address may be identified in the message. In some Symantec social media sites, we also allow the use of a user name which you can create, and which you can use to post messages.

We also use your name and email address to notify you of announcements, messages, or other information, such as contests, special offers, or opportunities to register for events or newsletters.

Symantec may use targeted advertising based on your activities in navigating and using the social media site, for the purposes of improving our sites and understanding what members are interested in; only anonymous, non-personal information will be shared with third parties.

Members of Symantec social media site will be notified through a notice on the social media site of changes to this policy.

Your choices

Some Symantec social media sites may provide tools that allow you to restrict who can view your profile and other personal information. Guidelines for doing so are available in the profile or personal settings on the social media site.

You can update your profile information at any time by correcting the profile information in your profile or personal settings.

Messages you receive from some Symantec social media sites may be sent to your primary email address or inbox, depending on the preferences you choose in your account settings.

You can terminate your account at any time. If you terminate your account, your profile, including any messages in your inbox, will be removed from the site and deleted from Symantec social media sites’ servers. Deletion of account information may not be immediate however and residual copies of your profile information may remain on backup media in accordance with the retention policies of Symantec and in accordance with the Symantec Web Privacy Notice.

Lawful disclosure

We may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to:

comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process,

protect the rights or property of Symantec or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the services, or

act when we believe, in good faith, that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Symantec employees, customers or the public.

Privacy Policies and Practices

In using the services provided by the Symantec social media sites, you may be able to access personal information about third parties through your dealings with such third parties. If you do, you agree that you will not in any event use such personal information contrary to this policy, or to Symantec’s Web Privacy Policy. In particular, you agree that:

You will not use contact information obtained through the user of the Symantec social media sites except for the purposes for which it was provided, namely to communicate regarding technical issues and discussion;

You will not provide such contact information to any party who is not a member of the Symantec social media sites, without the express consent of the individual’s whose contact information you wish to provide.

Transfers

Personal information collected through the Symantec social media sites may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country or region in which Symantec or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or agents maintain facilities. By using the Symantec social software sites’ forums and services, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country or region.

Contacting Symantec

For more information about our privacy practices, go to Symantec’s Web Privacy Policy. If you have additional questions, please contact us at privacy@symantec.com, or write to: